A deal too good to be true?

FORGIVE me for asking, but aren’t we supposed to be in the middle of one of the worst economic crises this country has ever seen?

Why, therefore, are a number of shops in Weymouth producing pricing offers which are patently not worth it?

A wonderful example was a national outlet offering one book for £4.99 “or two for £10”!

Do these people think so little of our mathematical prowess that they believe we can’t multiply £4.99 by two and come up with £9.98, thereby proving it is cheaper to buy the two books singly than together for £10?

It may only be two pence but the same casual approach exists in many places including one supermarket which clearly believes its customers can’t or won’t read the small print.

On the face of it their offer for a box containing a dozen tins of catfood seemed a good one... until you read the small print. Then you discovered that not only were you about to save on cash but on catfood as well because the tins in the box were 15 per cent smaller than those on the shelf!

Yes, it is hard times for shops and traders but treating customers as if they don’t have a brain isn’t helping their cause.

Road users beware... 

tourist season is upon us

WE appear to be on the brink of the tourist season if one recent driver using the King Street-Commercial Road lights in Weymouth is anything to go by.

Unable to make their mind up about which lane they wanted or should be in, they quite simply solved the problem by parking at 45 degrees across two lanes, partially blocking traffic trying to enter King Street and forcing those heading for Commercial Road to back off several yards to give them space to turn when the lights changed.

Other recent antics from visiting drivers were the couple on the seafront who dutifully stopped for pedestrian traffic lights... but then spread out a map to check where they were. 

It took several horn blows from fuming drivers behind them to get them to move on.

A couple of other incidents involved families in cars heading along by the side of Radipole Lake doing 30mph in a 50mph limit, cars backed up behind them while passengers excitedly pointed out the fact that they could see birds on the RSPB reserve!

These are only the advance guard. 

Within a few weeks we’ll be hip deep in such challenges, so now is a good time to work out which part of the country you’re going to on holiday so residents elsewhere can share the pain.

Will need to jump in the DeLorean to park outside house

NOT one person bothered to renew their resident’s parking permit for a densely populated area of Weymouth.

Properties there have no drives and certainly no front gardens large enough to be cleared for a parking space, so the council were probably mystified why residents were ignoring this lifeline chance for them to park on the road outside their homes.

The annual permit was pretty good value for money, it explained that the recipient would be given a scratchcard valid for use on a certain number of days and it explained how long the periods involved lasted for such as from April-July.

So why were so many residents not bothering to take up the renewal?

One resident provided the answer for me and said: “Only the council could ask us to renew our annual parking permits but send us out a form which was largely for 2012!”

I know council coffers are empty but surely to God they are not so desperate that they have to recycle old stationery?!

Parents can be such spoil sports

BOTH children were so excited that they were practically jumping up and down on the spot because they were on holiday, on a ship and its swimming pool had a wave machine!

The water rolled slowly and majestically in the pool and the children could hardly wait to get the go ahead from their parents to plunge in and enjoy it.

Strangely their parents from Weymouth were somewhat less keen. In fact they were completely, totally and utterly against the idea, not because they were spoilsports but because they feared for the children’s lives.

This was because the swimming pool didn’t have a wave machine, it was because the ship was out in the Bay of Biscay and it was because the weather was, shall we say, inclement!

The enticing waves in the swimming pool were being caused by the rolling of the ship in gale force conditions, but naturally all this was lost on the children who were still convinced they were being deprived of some good fun. 

Ah kids, don’t just you love ‘em?

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